By IANS,
New Delhi : Call it a sixth sense or premonition, workers trying to clear debris at a Delhi Metro accident site Sunday had a feeling that the things could go wrong again – and that’s exactly what happened Monday morning.
Six people had died a day earlier at the Zamrudpur Delhi Metro site when a part of the under construction elevated rail track collapsed in what was one of the worst accidents in the Metro’s history.
When an IANS correspondent spoke to workers engaged in clearing the debris Monday morning, many expressed fear that narrow streets, milling onlookers and the challenge of securing and lifting heavy fallen girders was an open invitation for disaster.
Balwan Singh, a worker from an east Delhi construction site, said: “We were supposed to have cleared the area by 6 a.m. today (Monday) and we were asked to come to this site last evening. But the way a part of the launcher is hanging is dangerous. Lifting such load is difficult.”
And that’s what happened hours later at noon when three huge cranes and the launcher toppled over and crashed into a row of houses – miraculously no one was killed.
Rajkumar, a worker engaged in directing passers-by from the barricaded site, looked up at the massive 31-metre launcher precariously suspended from one end – and said he had a feeling something would go wrong.
“I knew that with such big cranes in a narrow street where there are residential houses and shops, something could go horribly wrong. Today there are more people than yesterday,” said Rajkumar, who came to the site Sunday evening and had not slept a wink since.
To facilitate rescue and relief operations Sunday evening, hundreds of workers and labourers engaged at other Delhi Metro construction sites like the Yamuna Bank section were asked to reach the Zamrudpur site and divert traffic and pedestrians.
Virender Kumar, a site supervisor from Nand Vihar Metro site in east Delhi, said: “There are many engineers and technicians trying to figure out how to lift the structure.”
“The plan is to first give support to the girder since it is very heavy and then use gas cutters to cut pieces off and remove.”
The workers were more apprehensive after a portion of the launching girder fell from a great height, temporarily halting salvage operations around 8.30 a.m.
The workers restarted efforts to lift the massive structure and that is when the second accident happened, injuring three people.
According to the officials, the accident happened when the engineers tried to shift load from a low weight capacity crane to the higher capacity one.